


Deviations: 2018

by nogoodbi



Series: Deviations: A Series [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Canon Compliant, Canon Divergence - Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Everybody Lives, For Want of a Nail, Gen, Lighthearted, Short, stevebucky but only if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-30
Updated: 2019-05-16
Packaged: 2020-02-10 08:24:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18656668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nogoodbi/pseuds/nogoodbi
Summary: The actions of the surviving Avengers in their mission to retrieve the Infinity Stones in the past created many alternate timelines. Things happened differently, but similar in many ways.In 2018, heroes prepare for the fight of their lives.





	1. I

**2018**

“This is the fight of our lives,”

“ _ Could _ be.” Tony replied. Out of everybody there, he might have been the most terrified. Ever since New York— the wormhole— Tony knew: Something was out there.

And now, that something hovered over them, miles above orbit. A ship, larger than anything Tony had seen.

Everybody had been gathered. Steve Rogers stood beside him, the man formerly known as Captain America. He looked different; bags under his eyes, longer hair, a full beard, his suit worn and torn.. he was a mess.

_ His own fault _ .

The others stood behind him, at the outskirts of Wakanda; a country Tony had never expected to ever set foot on. They’d prepared for  _ war _ . Barriers were raised, troops were at the ready, gunships too. Tony even made use of his old Hulkbuster suit, letting his A.I, Friday, to remotely pilot it.

“Um, Mr. Stark? I don’t think it’s moving at all. Maybe we’ve intimidated it with our numbers? Or they can’t find a good place to land? Either way— either the anticipation is getting me antsy or I just  _ really  _ need to pee— “

Tony raised a hand. He’d regretted bringing the kid in the first place. Not that he had any choice, on the account that Peter had stowed away on the plane; after explicit instructions to stay in New York.

“Oh— and one other thing. I have this…. sense that tells me whether there’s a danger approaching; I sorta get tingles the back of my neck and— I call it my  _ spider-sense, _ but only to myself because it’s kind of a dumb name to be honest so— “

“Your  _ point?”,  _ Tony interrupted. The kid had a habit of talking too much whenever he got nervous. 

Tony couldn’t blame him if he were nervous. Under his suit, his hands were shaking.

“Well… my spider-sense  _ isn’t  _ tingling.”

Rhodey cocked his head at Peter. “You think that thing’s a  _ friendly?”  _ which Peter responded with a shrug.

It was a stand-off. Neither the army of Wakanda nor the ship advanced or attacked. The king’s chants for his army stopped minutes ago.

“We cannot know for sure.” the king said. He was a man in a suit that was arguably more advanced than Tony’s, but Tony’s suit wasn’t modeled after a big cat, which Tony took as a personal win.

Tony drew a breath, then exhaled.

“Hold on.”

He started to lift off. 

“Mr. Stark?”

“Tony?”

“Hey— “

“Your Majesty, open a doggie door on the barrier for me.”

He flew towards the uppermost part of the barrier before he could hear the response. Thankfully, King T’Challa obliged.

“Tony, what the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“Save it, Rogers! I’m doing this.”

The sky grew dark as he approached the ship. One man in an iron suit, against what could be an entire army.

The situation reminded Tony of New York— of the wormhole. 

He hadn’t had an attack in a while, especially not one tied to New York. He started to feel it, his heart pounding to escape his chest, his hands trembling enough that it showed even through his armor.. 

_ This is the fight of our lives. _

He thought about the dream he had. Pepper pregnant. A daughter. They’d live in a modest-but-respectable cottage; somewhere with a lakeside view. When Tony closed his eyes, he could almost see it.

When he opened his eyes, he was face-to-face with the ship.

“Oh you have got to be  _ fucking  _ kidding me!”

He saw a familiar face, minus one eye. Thor waved at him, stupidly casual.

“Thor! What the hell?!”

He gestured a hand towards an ear and mouthed the words “I can’t hear you”.

A loud whine like from a sound system pierced the silence. Then, a voice with what sounded like a New Zealand answer spoke. “Testing. One two three. Oh! I think we got it working!”

Thor raised a hand, one finger extended.  _ “One moment.” _

He ran out of view; and seconds later, his voice filled the air.

“Tony! How have you been all these years?”

Tony was almost speechless, he could even laugh.

“You know, it’s a bit hard, can’t really hear you, in here. Could you just tell our friends down below that we’re requesting to land? We’ve been trying to tell you guys for a while but.. this ship is second hand. Has a few kinks to it. Thank you!”


	2. II

What was thought to be a war ended up becoming a reunion party where everybody was a bit overdressed.

Hugs and handshakes were exchanged between the thunder god and the other founding members of the Avengers. The Hulk had somehow found his way into space, and he’d joined up with Thor on the spaceship that according to Thor, now contained the denizens of Asgard.

“I’m… really sorry about what happened. To you, your people...” Steve said.

“Oh, it’s nothing,” Thor slapped Steve’s back. “I’ve handled the situation pretty well. Not without the help of the Revengers, of course.”

“The _what?_ ”

“Revengers. My team. They’re like the Avengers, just several times better. In almost every way.” Thor grinned. He was as chipper and lively as ever; moreso even. Jarring, considering all that he went through.

Lost his hammer, his father, his eye, his home… It put things into perspective for Tony. The events that broke up the Avengers seemed.. so small in comparison.

Natasha was talking to the Hulk— not Banner. Besides him, a woman with a cape and gleaming armor.

“Well, She-Ra. What's the deal with green He-Man?”

The woman folded her arms and regarded Tony with a look that made him feel like he should be offended.

“Not sure. Before he turned, he said it he wasn’t sure if he could turn back. That was months ago.”, she said.

“Ah.”

The Hulk turned to Tony, lowering himself.

“Tony. Puny.”

“Hi there, buddy,”

“Hulk always liked Puny Tony.”

Tony couldn’t help but to smile. It was Banner who he really missed, but the big guy seemed to be a joy of his own.

Hulk looked to the distance, glaring at the automated Hulkbuster suit.

“Big Tony, Hulk no like. Hulk wants to smash, but Angry Girl said no.”

“You’re welcome, by the way.”, said ‘Angry Girl’.

Tony gave her a nod. He put a hand on Natasha’s shoulder, a wordless reassurance. She gave him a strained smile.

A hand poked at the back of Tony’s shoulder. “Um, Mr. Stark?”

Peter’s face was hidden behind his mask, but he was very obviously nervous.

“Do you— do you think I could talk to Thor?”

Tony patted him on the back and gave him a nudge.

“He’s not as cool as you think he is, kid. Go nuts.”

He looked around, everyone interacting with everyone. Tony had seen his share of battlefields, given his previous career. This one was his favorite.

One figure walked out of the spaceship, and the atmosphere immediately changed.

One arm— morphed into a blaster— pointed at the God of Mischief. Natasha pulled out her batons, Sam and Rhodey— weapons drawn. Vision and Wanda readied their powers. Steve’s wakandan shields unfolded.

Thor moved between Loki and everybody else. So did Hulk and the “Angry Girl”.

“No worries everyone! He’s good now!”

“Yeah, I don’t buy that!”, Tony shouted. He charged his blaster.

“Prove it!” Steve said at the same time.

Loki’s arms were raised. He was unarmed, but the look on his face didn’t help things.

“Honestly.” he said.

Everyone eventually settled down, mostly thanks to Thor’s skills of persuasion; and the demonstration of his newly enhanced lightning powers.

“I'm glad you can all be reasonable.” he said.

Steve stared Loki down, his expression serious. His beard helped with the intimidation; or at least in Tony’s opinion.

“You pull something, you’ll regret it.”

“Noted.”

Seconds barely passed before a circle of sparks materialized. From it came a man with well-trimmed facial hair and a flowing red cape. Rings of what could only be described as magic runes surrounded his arms.

“Okay,” Tony said to nobody in particular. “That’s— the _least_ surprising thing that’s happened today.”

“I thought we had an agreement!” the magician said.

“Hello, Doctor Strange!” Thor said.

_Doctor Strange?_

“I’ve come with a peace offering, wizard!” Loki proclaimed. Even Thor seemed surprised. “For amnesty. Watch over me as you may, but let me and my people live alongside the people of earth.”

Loki eyed the amulet the man wore around his neck. It was shaped like a closed eye, cast in gold.

Loki extended a hand, and a familiar blue cube materialized in his hand. It didn’t help de-escalate things.

“Thor, _why_ does he have the Tesseract!?”, asked Natasha on behalf of everybody there.

“I believe you’re familiar with the Infinity Stones..”

Doctor Strange looked stunned, but took the cube nonetheless.

“I thought it would safer here, with all these..” he gestured to indicate everybody there.

Strange nodded. “Safer with _me.”_ He opened another portal of sparks.

“Hey— hey who even _are_ you? What do you _do_?”, Tony blurted.

“Doctor Stephen Strange. Master of the Mystic Arts and protector of your reality.” he stated matter-of-factly. He didn’t offer a handshake.

“Oh, _that_ clears thing up, then. Go ahead and take the dangerous all-powerful artifact to your wizard lair, completely un-suspicious stranger.”

Tony aimed his blaster at Strange. He didn’t flinch.

“That’s not the brightest idea..”

Steve stepped between the two. “That’s enough! We can have a _civil_ discussion about this— “

“Really, Rogers?”

“I’d have to agree,” Strange said. He let Steve take the cube, which he handled gingerly.

“I don’t want to have to _hurt_ you, Stark. It would be a shame.” he said coldly.

_Okay, so he’s a smug bastard._

_“_ The Tesseract— in case some of you don’t know— is one of the six Infinity Stones, objects of limitless power,”

Eyes turned towards the Vision— who had been on the far side of the scene, his hand intertwined with Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch.

Strange did a series of gestures, and his eye shaped amulet opened. The “pupil” was a gem that glowed an emerald light.

“ _I_ am the current keeper of the Time Stone, which I think qualifies me to protect _that_ ,” he said. “the _Space_ Stone.”

Vision stepped towards the three as Wanda gave a look of concern.

“If I may interject,” he said. “I hold the Mind Stone in my person.. you could say it is a part of me. If you holding the Time Stone makes you qualified….”

When Vision trailed off, he might have been expecting someone to continue the thread he’d set. When someone did speak, it was Strange, with a single word. “ _Shit.”_

“What?” Steve asked.

“That’s _three._ Three Infinity Stones, here on earth.”

“Okay, solid math...”

“ _Zip it,_ Tony.”

“There are forces in this universe that are hell-bent for power. If _half_ of the greatest sources of power in the universe are here on earth— “

“The earth needs one hell of a defense.” Steve said.

“Exactly.”

“That wouldn’t be a problem, would it?” Thor interjected. He’d been in earshot for the entire exchange, but had only now spoken up. He put a hand each on Tony and Steve’s shoulders, smiling.

"We have the Avengers. Earth’s _mightiest_ heroes, all right here.”

Steve and Tony shared a look.

“Do we, Rogers?” Tony said quietly.

“Just look around, Doctor!”

Tony and Steve looked around as well. The wide-open field made the sheer _numbers_ all the more obvious. Faces Tony could put names to, not even counting Wakanda’s army.

_Sam Wilson, Barnes, Natasha, Wanda, Hulk, the Vision, Rhodey.._

There was T’Challa, the Black Panther, Wakanda’s warrior king.

There was the forces of the Asgardians; led by Thor, who was more powerful than ever. _Loki_ would be on their side..

 _The kid counts too, I guess_ , Tony thought.

Doctor Strange crossed his arms, looking grim.

“You think this would be enough?”

“It would be,” Steve answered. “If we’d dealt with whatever threat comes _together._ ”

Tony smirked on the behalf of Steve’s remark.

“I see. The Space Stone will be in safe hands with all of you people. Whenever that threat comes, you know where to find me.”

With that, Doctor Strange stepped through his portal, which vanished moments after.

“Wait— we _do?_ ” Tony asked to nobody in particular.

“Oh,” Thor spoke up. “I do! He lives in New York.”

“Of course..”

Steve nudged Tony’s shoulder. He looked like he was trying his best to not looked as pleased as he was. “So.. does this mean— “

"Yes, Rogers, I guess it does,”

Tony turned towards the other heroes; The other heroes who were _there_. Some stood alongside him back at that airport in Germany, the rest stood alongside Captain America. Now, they all stood alongside each other.

“The Avengers are back in business.”

The three of them stood in silence, before Thor came to a realization.

“Wait— Did you guys _break up?_ ”


	3. Epilogue.

**Five Years Later**

A loud ‘BOOM’ broke the silence of the woods around the lakehouse. With a sound like that as close to a home, any child would be startled or even scared to tears. But little Morgan Stark jumped for joy. She dragged her father out to the front porch.

“Uncle Thor!”

Tony’s old teammate greeted him with a slight wave before being tackle-hugged by the little girl wearing the Spider-Man sweater. He hugged and spun the kid before gently placing her back down to earth.

“Man, did ya _have_ to travel via Bifrost here?” Tony said. He smiled nonetheless. It was good to see an old friend.

“Sorry about the grass,” he said. He pulled his weapon, Stormbreaker away from Morgan’s reaching arms.

“The littler Stark has grown, I see!”

He ruffled Morgan’s hair with his free hand as she giggled. The static electricity upon contact made strands of her hair stick up on end.

“Ha ha. Careful with her and the hammer, there,” Tony said. “Knowing her mother, she could probably lift it.” He smiled at his own joke.

Thor chuckled, then strapped Stormbreaker to his back. “Am I the first to arrive?”

Tony nodded. “Yeah. I mean, you have a leg up, with the.. teleportation and all.”

The two waited in the living room, sharing some drinks and catching up on the past years.

After most of the original Avengers hung their capes, Thor decided to move his attention full-time on the development of New Asgard. He ruled for a respectable period of time, but following in his father’s footsteps didn’t fit him.

“You stepped down?”

“Well, yeah,” Thor answered. “Found myself a worthy successor, too. The new _Queen_ of Asgard.”

“ _Her?_ Really?”

“Yes, Valkyrie was my first choice.”

“Can I ask you a dumb question? Is that really her name? Because with the way you explained it, it seemed to be a title. Is she just, ‘Queen’ now?”

Thor shrugged, finishing his third glass since arriving at the house. “Honestly, i’m not sure. She wouldn’t tell us her name when we’d first met. I kept calling her ‘the Valkyrie’ and.. it kinda stuck. She likes it, at least,”

A knock at the door. When Tony answered and opened the door, two more guests were welcomed into the room.

Clint hadn’t changed much in the last five years. Neither had Natasha, really, but seeing her with blonde flowing hair instead of the fiery red Tony had associated her with was still a little jarring for him.

“Sorry we’re late,” Clint said. “Laura got called to work, almost called in a babysitter, but then I left Cooper in charge. I’m only eighty percent sure the house won’t burn down.”

“And I had _work_ .” Natasha said. For her _,_ ‘work’ was with the newly improved SHIELD, working with Fury and Hill to manage the new Avengers team.

“Trust me, you’re not late,”

Thor waved at the two from the couch.

“Hey!” he called out. “Love the new look, Natasha. The long blonde hair, very… godly.”

Natasha smiled. Morgan came back downstairs to greet her Uncle Clint and Aunt Nat. She convinced Natasha to braid her hair and after halfway doing it, Natasha let Thor finish the job.

Tony pulled Clint aside, out of earshot of Morgan and the two.

“Okay, Barton, tell me,” Tony said. “How many kids do you have again?”

“Um, three, why?”

 _“How_ do you do it? Y’know? I _commend_ you, man. Three kids.. you’re— that makes you the _most powerful_ of all of us.”

“Oh, Tony…” Clint said.

“I _love_ my kid, don’t get me wrong. To the moon and back. But.. _three?_ I cannot imagine… “

Clint’s answer was just to break down into laughter.

Another series of knocks at the door, heavy ones.

When Tony answered the door, he instinctively recoiled a little. He felt bad about it. He’d seen the new Banner through pictures and video calls, but seeing him in person…

“Wow.”

“I know, right?” Bruce Banner’s voice said, coming out of the mouth of the Hulk wearing a sweater. “That’s what I say when I pass a mirror, sometimes,”

He needed to duck through the doorway to get in the house.

Five years ago, he’d been stuck as the Hulk after assisting Thor in saving the population of Asgard. Eventually— with some help— the Hulk and Banner figured out a compromise, of sorts.

A merger of the two, keeping the best traits of each.

“Looking for clothes is a pain, though.”

“You look good, man!” Thor said.

“Yeah,” Bruce said. “And kids love me!” He stretched out an arm, on which Morgan was hanging onto like monkey bars.

The last guest didn’t take much longer to show up. Or, last _guests._

“Ah, right, I forgot” Tony said. “You’re a package deal now.”

Steve let his oldest friend, James Barnes step into the room first. He shook Tony’s hand, thankfully with the hand that wasn’t made of metal.

“Hey, Tony,” he said. There was nervousness in his tone. Some of that may have come from the fact that he was shaking hands with the son of the man and woman he’d murdered in cold blood, but Tony had assured him that the past was in the past when Barnes first became an Avenger.

Barnes made his way onto the couch, while Tony greeted Steve.

“Rogers.”

“Tony,”

“No Sam?”

He shook his head. “Avengers work, the usual.”

“Shame. Would have loved to have Captain America at my house party.” Tony said deadpan. Steve smiled, lightly gripped Tony’s shoulder and let go, joining the others.

Tony brought out the fancier drinks, poured some into wine glasses for the team, then filled another wine glass with grape juice for little Morgan. He raised his glass, and Morgan was the first to follow.

“I propose a toast!” he said.

“Toast!” Morgan echoed.

“To us. The Avengers, the ones who started it all.”

“And to the ones who carry our torch, our successors,” Steve continued. He shot a smile at Barnes and Natasha, a member and an overseer, respectively.

“Yeah, may they not make the same mistakes we did, back in our day.”

“They won’t” Natasha chimed in.

“To the Avengers!” Thor yelled.

“To the Avengers!”

Their glasses clinked together, a circle composed of eight over the table.

A phone buzzed. Natasha’s.

“Nat? You gonna take that?” Steve said.

She shrugged. “It’s probably nothing.

Upon taking a look at the notification, her eyes widened. “Okay, scratch that, it’s _something_.”

“What?”

“TV, on. Now.”

Tony switched on the TV. What Natasha meant was clear without changing the channel. A special broadcast, featuring the Avengers.

The powerhouses stood at the side. The Scarlet Witch and The Vision, with Nick Fury’s friend from space, the woman called Captain Marvel. Besides her, Rhodey, in the newest iteration of the War Machine armor. Sam Wilson stood in uniform as Captain America, the shield he’d inherited from Steve strapped to his back.

Doctor Strange had been more of an honorary member, so his absence wasn’t surprising. Ant-Man’s absence was, but not by much.

“An impromptu press event?”

Eyes turned to Barnes. “I… didn’t get the memo,”

“Neither did I.” Natasha said.

The camera was centered on Spider-Man. Peter, Tony’s protégé, who’d became a household name and an icon all to himself ever since he became an Avenger.

It was a live feed, and it had been going for a while before they tuned in.

Spider-Man removed his mask.

“My name is Peter Parker,”

“ _Oh._ ” Tony muttered to himself.

“I am Spider-Man.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An epilogue, but a prelude also, perhaps?


End file.
